Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Raspberry Patch



After telling you about my raspberry jam, I thought it would nice to share some pictures of our raspberry patch. This is the patch's fourth season, and it has been fun to see it grow and fill in. I think the space is about 3 feet by 15 feet, but lately I've been wishing it was about twice as big. I'd love to get more raspberries!

We didn't get many raspberries the first two years, and last year we didn't get any because we didn't pick them when they first started ripening. Emily was probably less than two months old and my garden suffered from my sleep deprivation. In my limited experience with raspberries, I've found that if you keep picking the berries they will produce into September. Maybe even later if it's a mild fall.

Another reason I think our raspberry patch is doing better this year is fertilizer. James kindly sprinkled two bags of steer manure over the raspberries for me this spring. A couple of years ago my parents heavily fertilized their raspberries with horse manure and they seemed to get the crop of a lifetime. We might need to try that smelly experiment next year (if I can talk James into it!)

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